Drought relief is our right, says Minister

Agriculture Minister Cheluvarayaswamy expresses discontent over Union govt's reluctance to release drought relief to Karnataka farmers. He states that Karnataka contributes ₹4 lakh crore to Union govt's tax revenues, yet only gets back ₹30,000 crore. He urges Union govt to understand & release relief. He also directs officials to increase crop insurance registration & take up awareness activities. He emphasizes on water conservation & millet cultivation, curbing spurious & substandard products & establishing harvest hubs. He adds that 32,000 farm ponds will be built at ₹200 crore.

Expressing discontentment over what according to him is the Union government’s reluctance to release drought relief to farmers of Karnataka, Agriculture Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy has said that the State has all rights to get drought relief.

“Karnataka contributes ₹4 lakh crore to the Union government’s tax revenues annually. But, it gets back only ₹30,000 crore from the Union government. We are in a federal system. It is our right to get drought relief. The Union government should understand this and immediately release drought relief. Even though the Union government did not release any amount to be disbursed to affected farmers, the State government has already released the required amount for providing drinking water to people and fodder to their cattle,” the Minister told a meeting in Ballari on Wednesday.

The meeting was organised at the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner’s office to review the progress of work under Agriculture Department.

Taking stock of the poor number of registration for crop insurance in the district, Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy directed the officials concerned to take up awareness activities among farmers and increase the number of registration for crop insurance.

“Complete the works within the stipulated time so that both time and money can be saved. Work hard to raise farmers income and ensure their financial stability. Complete FRUITS [Farmer Registration and Unified Beneficiary Information System] registrations within a week. Take up special awareness drive on water conservation and millet cultivation. Step up vigilance and curb the menace of spurious and substandard sowing seeds, fertilizers and pesticides in the market. Give adequate importance to establishing harvest hubs wherever required. Give priority to building farm ponds at fields located along the tail-end of irrigation canals,” the Minister told officials.

He added that the State government has decided to build 32,000 farm ponds at a cost of ₹200 crore.

Minister for Youth Empowerment, Sport and Tribal Welfare and Ballari in-charge B. Nagendra, MLAs Ganesh and Nagaraju, Deputy Commissioner Prasant Kumar Misra and other senior officers were present.